Apparatus for fixing transfers



u- 22.. 1950 w. A. JoHNsoN 2,519,661

APPARATUS FOR FIXING TRANSFERS Filed Feb. 14, 1948 Y INVENToR. WALTER A. JOHNSON A "wf-5.6 BY 75M aww Y////////////// ATTORNEYS Pnenea Aeg. 2z, leso APPARATUS FOR FIXING TRANSFERS Walter A. Johnson, Syracuse, N. Y., assignor to Onondaga Pottery Company, Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 114, 1948, Serial No. 8,372

(Cl. i1- 1) s claim. l

This invention relates generally to the application of design transfers to' articles of table ware made from pottery, glass, etc., suchy as plates, saucers, platters, and the like, and more particularly has to do with a method and apparatus for fixing yor pressing the design of the transfer into intimate close contact with the surface of the ware being decorated.

Most ornamentation appearing on table ware is applied through the use of transfers. These transfers consist of pieces of thin paper'on which the design is printed. Briefly stated, the process consists of pressing or fixing the printed design into close intimate contact with the surface of the waren-being decorated, land subsequentlyv the paper is washed or floated oiI from the ware. 'I'hereafter,the printed design remaining on the 4wareis baked on the ware iny a decorating kiln.

Y In general, there are two types of transfers in use. One, where the design is printed on the paper and while the design is still tacky, the transfer is applied to the ware. In thesecond case, the design, usually multi-"colored, is printed on the transfer paper and after theprinted devsign hasdried, it is covered withk a thin coating of a suitablesubstance, such as varnish, which serves as an adhesive to secure the designA to the face of the ware preparatory to the baking operation. Sometimes the varnish is applied to the surface of the ware rather than the transfer. In either case, it is essential that the design be pressed into close intimate contact with the surface of the ware and, of course, that the transfer be applied in a smooth, even and uniform manner, and that it does not move during the pressing operation. Otherwise, the design will ap` pear smeared on the work.

At the presenttime, these transfers are applied to the ware to x the design thereon by operators rubbing down, or pressing the transfers on the ware by means of manual manipulation of a brush provided; with a suitable lubricant. This hand operation requires a very considerable portion of the entire time consumed in decorating the ware and it is afatiguing operation.`

Various attempts have been made previously in mechanicallyrubbing or pressing the transfers on the ware. For example, a power operated revolving brush has been used for this purpose.

However, the brush tendsto tear away and pick upparts of the thin transfer paper, with the result that the design applied is imperfect, requiring the transfer to be removed and the `ware cleaned, andthe operation repeated with anew transfer, orl other repair operation. 1

`the piece of In another proposed method, the transfer was subjected to the action of a reciprocating dauber,

ware being manipulated by hand until the entire area 'of the transfer had been subjected to the blows of the dauber element. This arrangement consumed as much. or more time, as the hand rubbing operation and resulted in the transfer being pressed against the ware with varying pressure causing a variation in the appearance of the design on the finished piece of work.

In a third method, it was attempted to roll the transfer with a series of rollers mounted upon a spring spider, the piece of ware being hand manipulated 4until the entire surface of the transfer had been subjected to the action of the rollers. This arrangement, and also others including the two above referred to, resulted in the transfer 20 being often moved laterally, resulting in a smeared design, and the rollers tended to distort the design due tothe very high and localized pressure obtained by a substantially line contact between the rollers and the transfer, and fur- 25 ther because the resilient rollers had a tendency any shifting of the transfer characters designate to flatten and cause a sliding contact rather than a rolling contact.

This invention has as an object a method by whichtransfers may be quickly and vconveniently pressed against or fixed on the surface of the ware in an entirely uniform manner, and without during the fixing operation.

' `The invention has as a further object an apparatus suitable for carrying out the method and embodying a particularly economical structure -by which an inexperienced operator can quickly fix the design of a transfer on the surface of the ware. i

The invention consists in the novel method and features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

` In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of an apparatus embodying my invention. l Figure 2 is a. view similar to Figure 1 with the pressing element of the apparatus shown in pressing engagement with a piece of ware being decorated.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the lower por-` trating a modined type of ware supporting and pressing elements.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of the pressing element shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the ware supporting element shown in Figure 4.

My method consists in applying a uniform pressure over the entire area of the transfer and both surfaces of the piece of ware, the pressure being normal to the surface of the transfer and the ware, and simultaneously restraining any radial movement of the transfer.

This method may be performed by the apparatus shown in the accompanying -drawing and which comprises a suitable rigid support Il on which is mounted a restraining member vlI I. As shown, this member is of cylindrical formation secured to the support |II, as by screws |2. A resilient member I3 is positioned on the support I within the restraining member Il. The support I0 and the member |3 constitute asupport for a piece of fiat table ware, such as a plate I4. The member I3 is constructed to resiliently support the entire area of the underside of the plate. As shown, in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the member I3 is in the nature of a bag formed of resilient material, such as rubber, and provided, as in the bottom wall, with a valve member I5 having a stem I6 Aaccessible below the support I0. The space or chamber within the member may be filled with a compressible fluid, such as air, or a non-compressiblefluid, such as water. The transfer positioned on the upper surface of the plate I4 is pressed into intimate contact with the surface of the ware by a resilient pressing element I8. This element may be of construction similar to that of the member I3 and is adhesively mounted upon a backing pad I9 detachably secured to a piston rod on the upper end of which there is secured a piston 2| movable in a cylinder 22 carried by a suitable upright 23 mounted on the base I0. A suitable fluid under pressure is supplied to the cylinder on opposite sides of the pistons 2| by conduits 24, 25, connected to an operating valve 26. The valve 26 is formed with a rotatable member 21 having an operating manual lever 28. The manual lever 28 may be replaced by a. lever and shipper rod and roller riding on a cam tomove lever automatically from one position to the other on any desired timing schedule. With the valve arranged in the position shown in Figure 1, the pump 29 withdraws fluid from a supply tank 30 and discharges the same through a conduit 3| connected to the valve' 26 through the rotatable member 2l; to conduit 24, to the bottom portion of the cylinder, moving the piston upwardly. During this upward movement, the fluid isV discharged from the upper portion of the cylinder through the conduit 25, valve rotor 21, conduit 32, to the supply tank 30.

When the valve handle 28 is actuated to the dotted line position, the pump conduit 3| is connected to the conduit 25, supplying uid under pressure to the upper portion of the cylinder,

and the fluid is discharged from the lower portion of the cylinder through the conduits 24, valve 26, conduit 3|. In other words, the cylinder 22 is provided with any conventional fluid pressure means to effect reciprocation of the piston rod 20.

With a piece Vf ware positioned on the member I3, the pressing element I8 is moved downwardly into the retaining member II and into engagement with the transfer and the ware. The coningly conform to the configuration of the ware, whereby the pressure is exerted normal to the surfaces of the ware and to the transfer, and also the pressure is applied uniformly. Due to the fact that both the lower and upper elements Il, I8. are during the pressing engagement confined inthe restraining member |I, there is substantially no lateral movement of the ware engaging surfaces of these elements, with the result that there is no shifting of the transfer of the ware.

With this arrangement, the printed design is pressed into close intimate contact with the surface of the ware without any shifting of the transfer, all whereby the design is adequately fixed on the ware in clear, sharp detail and without any smearing or fuzziness of the lines of the design regardless how fine they may be. These advantages result from the fact that the pressure applied on the transfer in the manner stated can be relatively great in the order of several tons on a piece of ware the size of a conventional dinner plate without damaging either the transfer or plate. This high pressure is particularly advantageous in the case of the decalcomania type of transfer in that the design is pushed through the relatively viscous tacky varnish surface ,into intimate contact with the surface of the ware. Ifsuch intimate contact is not obtained, the decoration has a tendency to blister when the varnish is burnt off from the ware in the decorating kiln.

The pressing elements may consist of a solid material, as indicated at 40, 4|, in Figures 4, 5 and 6, the elements in this case being formed of elastic or yielding material, such as rubber, having the desired characteristics, in which event the confronting surfaces of the pressing elements are shaped to conform approximately to the configuration of the ,front and back sides of the ware. I have found such elements to work entirely satisfactory. However, the iiuid filled elements I3, Il, possesses the advantage of being useable on pieces of ware that vary in shape and form, such as dinner plates, platters, saucers, etc. In either event however, the same operation is carried out-namely, the ware is compressed between elements that yieldingly conform to its configuration and which exert a pressure normal to all points of the surface of the ware and the transfer, and wherein the pressing elements are confined and restrained against any suitable radial movement.

Many hundreds `of thousands of pieces of ware have been successfully decorated by this method and with the apparatus herein described.

What I claim is:

l. In apparatus for fixing transfers to articles of flat tableware of disk-like shape, the combination of a frame, a rigid cylinder mounted on the frame and being open at one end. only, a liquid impervious resilient bag filled with liquid, said bag closely tted in the closed end portion of said cylinder and acting as a support for said article, a pressing element mounted on the frame in axial alinement with said cylinder consisting of a power operated plunger dimensioned to closely fit the internal diameter of said cylinder, a second liquid impervious resilient bag filled with liquid, said second bag being ailixed to the forward end of said plunger and shaped to t the open end portion of said cylinder, and means to increase the pressure simultaneously in'both bags at the moment of contact of said second bag with said article by the further movement of said plunger fronting surfaces of the members i3, I8, yieldand second bag toward the closed end of said cylthe cylinder and closely fitted against the side wall thereof, said bag acting as a support for said article, a plunger slidably mounted in the frame in axial alinement with said cylinder and being movable toward and from the open end thereof,

. a second liquid impervious resilient bag filled with liquid and afilxed to the end of said plunger confronting the cylinder, said plunger and bag being shaped and dimensioned to slidably nt the open -end portion of the cylinder, the confronting surfaces of said bags yieldingly conforming to the entire area of an article positioned therebetween during initial engagement of said surfaces with the article, said bags being effective toapply uniform pressure over the entire area of the article and normal thereto upon further movement of said plunger in the cylinder while the wallof the cylinder is eiective to restrain radial movement of both of said bags during initial and pressure engag'ement with the article.

3. In apparatus for fixing transfers to articles of at vtableware of disk-like shape, the combination of a frame, a rigid cylinder vertically mounted on the frame and being closed at its lower end, a liquid impervious resilient bag filled 6 l with liquid positioned in the lower closed end portion of the cylinder and being closely ntted against the side wall thereof, a hydraulically operated plunger vertically mounted in the frame for movement toward and from the open end of the cylinder, a second liquid impervious bag lled with liquid and aiIixed to the end of said plunger confronting the open end o'f the cylinder, said plunger and bag being shaped and dimensioned to slidably llt the open end portion of said cylinder, the confronting surfaces of said bag yieldingly conforming to the entire area of an article positioned therebetween A during initial vengagement of said surfaces with the article, said cylinder being effective to restrain radial movement of both bags during said initial engagement, and

' said bags being effective to apply uniform pressure over the entire area of the article and nor.

. mal thereto upon further movement of said plunger in the cylinder. v

Y WALTER A. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Miller Mar. 30. 1948 

